Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down

The Ups, Downs, and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur

By: Jeff Smulyan

Narrated by: Jeff Smulyan

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

For founder and CEO of Emmis Communications Jeff Smulyan, the path to success has been anything but straightforward. When you've owned a Major League Baseball team, started America's first all sports radio station, created the world's two largest hip hop radio stations and managed everyone from David Letterman to Ken Griffey Jr. and Don Imus and even been nationalized by an ally of Vladimir Putin, you've seen the rollercoaster ride of an entrepreneur from every side.

Aspiring entrepreneurs, radio and media industry insiders, and avid sports fans alike will appreciate Smulyan's honesty as he shares the countless lessons he's learned from decades of entrepreneurship. Smulyan offers listeners priceless insight into navigating the twists and turns of growing a business and teaches how to build a culture based on both trust and humor—the essential keys to surviving almost anything.

Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down details Smulyan's journey: from taking over his cousin's failing country music radio station and founding his own company, to purchasing and then selling ownership of the Seattle Mariners and guiding his company through the Golden Age of Radio. Alongside his humorous, eventful, and dramatic stories, Smulyan presents valuable pointers and tips—for anyone else brave enough to try their own hand at starting a business.

©2022 Jeff Smulyan (P)2022 Ascent Audio

An Honest Radio Roughrider, Warts and All

Radio’s Jeff Smulyan has always been an island of truth in a sea of fibbers and Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down is a great example of the globe trotting Emmis Communications Corp. founder and entrepreneur’s ability to tell a story truthfully even when he has egg on his face. And like most in the media business know, there are a lot of eggs to go around. But as usual, Smulyan, 75, has a knack for mixing the humor and irony to a level of being educational in this up and down ride through a myriad of business ventures. His successes like LA’s K-Power were storied fortune-builders while his adventure in radio Hungry zapped Emmis revenues for years. Smulyan’s ability —along with the smart and talented management team his collected over the past nearly five decades — is a testament to true grit, focus, and the ability to profit from doing the right thing. In a time when truth and honesty are hard to come by, this read is a charming reminder on how to conduct yourself and your business. Perhaps Smulyan’s best lesson here is “you never do good business with bad people.”

Run away hit. Much like Jeff’s Dog “Damit”

Jeff has always been transparent. Even when his Dog ran lose and he would chase it throughout the neighborhood yelling “Damit”…. No excuses! Thanks for your continued example of leadership.
50 year’s of being a friend.